Last weekend I attended a baby shower for one of my cousins. The invitation was emailed and my name was the only one on it, so like every single other shower I'd been to (or even heard of), I assumed it was ladies' only. There was nothing on the invite to indicate that families/SO's were welcome to attend also.

So, I went by myself--and found I was the only one who had! Everyone else had their entire families with them: children, spouses, etc. Nothing in the invite indicated that this was a family event. I've been living with my b/f for over seven years and we've always been invited to events as a unit before, so I was extremely surprised and a bit hurt by this.

Several people asked where he was so I politely lied and said he couldn't make it rather than state that we didn't know he was invited (which was partially true as he did end up having other plans that afternoon but would have liked to have made it to the party if he could have).

Should I have said something to one of the hosts? One of them (my sister) has my b/f's contact information and had plenty of opportunities to let me know that "oh, yea, of course he's invited also!" so he could have been sent an invite. Or should I not have assumed that baby shower=smaller, ladies' only gathering?

I can't imagine why you would have thought he was invited under those circumstances. I don't think it was necessary for you to lie at all. It would not have been rude to say that you did not realize that the shower was a family event rather than a ladies party as the invitation only mentioned you by name.

Oh, I know how you feel, well, mostly how your BF feels or felt or whathaveyou, with a twist.Clearly you couldn't know it was a whole-familly thing if it was never the case before.I think you were right with your little white lie, no need to make a big deal of it.Unless you (general) felt that you or your SO was actually snubbed and not putting his/her name on the invite was deliberate and a reoccurring problem it's easier to let it pass and learn to check for next time.

I said I know the awkwardness with a twist because when my own BF tells me/invite me to a diner night or a BBQ with his colleagues or to diner with his father (who sometimes visits our city but stay in an hotel) or a weekend at his gran-pa house, I never know off the bat if the host actually invited me or if it's my SO assuming I was. I'd be horrified meeting his dad or family and getting a "what is she doing here?" look.Now I just ask him point blank if I was or not, blunt is a language he understand best , sometimes he doesn't know if significant others where actually invited/expected.(And even if I am indeed invited I'll decline a diner with only his work colleagues, I'd end up borred out of my mind )

I can't imagine why you would have thought he was invited under those circumstances. I don't think it was necessary for you to lie at all. It would not have been rude to say that you did not realize that the shower was a family event rather than a ladies party as the invitation only mentioned you by name.

It's kind of instinctual for me to tell a "little white lie to keep the peace". I wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an oversight, plus I didn't want to deal with a potential fallout reaction of "how DARE you make your sister look like a bad host!".

Also, I really wasn't sure what typical baby showers were like. My experience had been that they were ladies' only events, but this was more like a family reunion. Is this a universal thing?

I don't think you were wrong for thinking that your boyfriend wasn't invited. You made the safe assumption. I agree that you didn't have to lie, though I can see why it may have been the more comfortable choice.

However, I think it's a mistake to assume that this was a deliberate slight rather than an oversight. Unless there's bad blood between your boyfriend and the host/guest of honor, it was probably simply an error. If the host thought that they'd emailed him an invitation (or included him on yours), I don't think they would mention to you that he was invited unless you had specifically asked for clarification. A second possibility is that the host did originally intend for it to be ladies only and the guests either assumed that it was a family event or asked if they could bring their charges along. The host may have been perfectly okay with this and just said, "Sure thing!" or she may have just not wanted to say no.

My point is that while I totally understand being sad that you couldn't share this event with your sweetie, I don't think you should assume that your friends don't like your boyfriend and/or don't honor your relationship with him. You're usually treated as a social unit, which makes me think that your friends see you as one. This was really probably just a mistake.

My vote is to let this one go. If one of the hosts or the GOH had asked where he was, I think a good response would have been, "When I got the invitation, I assumed it was a ladies' only event. Too bad, I know he would have enjoyed celebrating!" But I don't think it would have been good to say that he wasn't invited unless you knew for a fact that had been the intention. (Even in that case, doing so likely would have put a bit of a damper on everyone's good mood.)

In the future, I think you can make polite inquiries if you aren't sure about an event. If you want to go subtle, use the singular first person a bit more heavily than usual. If the host asks after boyfriend, say, "Oh, is he invited, too? He didn't mention getting an email. I'll tell him to check his spam folder. I'm sure he'd love to come. I'll have him call you."

It seems a bit strange that it was like a family reunion, but you were not told this ahead of time and bf was not invited. Did your sister ask you, at the party where bf was and apologize for not making it clear the invite was for you both? If not, I would begin to wonder what she was thinking to invite everyone but him.

If your sister was one of the hosts, why don't you just ask her? I don't know that there's anything wrong with a light "Hey, I was really confused to show up to the party expecting an all-ladies shower and instead finding everyone with their partners and families! What happened there?" It's possible that you did miss an insert, a text, a note, or an aside that would have communicated this to you. And if your BF is generally included and liked by family and friends, it probably was an oversight that could be explained away. However, this question does open you up if it is the case that they don't like him. "Well, after he got wasted and jumped in the pool fully clothed at Aunt Myrtle's, we thought it best he sit this one out."

However, I wouldn't have lied to people about your boyfriend being unable to attend - I would have simply replied "I assumed this was a girls only event". You could have even added "The invitation was only addressed to me."

I also think it's odd how everyone else's partner and family was invited, but your boyfriend wasn't. I'd definitely ask your sister about it!

My sister did mention that she was bringing her husband, but this was well after my own BF had already ended up making other plans. BIL made it sound more like he was being dragged to the party which was why I'd also been under the impression it wasn't a 'bring the whole family' event.

My sister did mention that she was bringing her husband, but this was well after my own BF had already ended up making other plans. BIL made it sound more like he was being dragged to the party which was why I'd also been under the impression it wasn't a 'bring the whole family' event.

Still, she didn't make it clear that YOUR boyfriend was invited, so my advice still stands - ask her!

Most of the baby showers I have been to have been ladies only, or they were with our Sunday School class and then it was couples.

Just last weekend, I helped host a shower, and several of the guests had asked the home hostess if their DDs could attend, age ranged from 11 to college.

My DD was out of town, and I doubt she would have enjoyed oohing and ahhing over diaper organizers and baby clothes, but I was surprised at the extra number the daughters added. (Had planned games, and the girls added 5 unexpected people! So I had most of the games with adults only, or a few adults graciously shared with their DD)

Anyway, you cannot know to ask beforehand what you did not know about. I guess next time, you will know to ask.

I don't think you were wrong for thinking that your boyfriend wasn't invited. You made the safe assumption. I agree that you didn't have to lie, though I can see why it may have been the more comfortable choice.

However, I think it's a mistake to assume that this was a deliberate slight rather than an oversight. Unless there's bad blood between your boyfriend and the host/guest of honor, it was probably simply an error. If the host thought that they'd emailed him an invitation (or included him on yours), I don't think they would mention to you that he was invited unless you had specifically asked for clarification. A second possibility is that the host did originally intend for it to be ladies only and the guests either assumed that it was a family event or asked if they could bring their charges along. The host may have been perfectly okay with this and just said, "Sure thing!" or she may have just not wanted to say no.

My point is that while I totally understand being sad that you couldn't share this event with your sweetie, I don't think you should assume that your friends don't like your boyfriend and/or don't honor your relationship with him. You're usually treated as a social unit, which makes me think that your friends see you as one. This was really probably just a mistake.

My vote is to let this one go. If one of the hosts or the GOH had asked where he was, I think a good response would have been, "When I got the invitation, I assumed it was a ladies' only event. Too bad, I know he would have enjoyed celebrating!" But I don't think it would have been good to say that he wasn't invited unless you knew for a fact that had been the intention. (Even in that case, doing so likely would have put a bit of a damper on everyone's good mood.)

In the future, I think you can make polite inquiries if you aren't sure about an event. If you want to go subtle, use the singular first person a bit more heavily than usual. If the host asks after boyfriend, say, "Oh, is he invited, too? He didn't mention getting an email. I'll tell him to check his spam folder. I'm sure he'd love to come. I'll have him call you."

I'm confused. I don't see anywhere where the OP has made these assumptions.

But at this point, I would definitely talk to your sister and see what happened. Was it a mistake, as in, she meant to put him on the invitation but he somehow got left off? Or was it deliberate, as in, in sis's eyes, he's not part of the family?

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking the hosts in advance of an event like this in the future. "Is this females only or are the guys invited too?" I've gotten asked that question on parties I've hosted and I just give the answer and it's accepted. But I can certainly see, for a baby shower especially, not even thinking to ask.

If it was indeed, just an oversight, it's no big deal, these things happen. But if he was deliberately not invited, it's probably time to clear this up for the future. Since you've always been invited together before, it sounds like it was just an oversight. But at least sis should know so she'll be more careful in the future.

It's odd that every single other person at the party knew it was a family event so I'd wonder if you didn't miss a note or an insert or some subtext somewhere that everyone else understood and then just assumed that you also understood it. So, I'd ask your sister if it is normal for showers to be family events in your family or if you missed something obvious so you don't miss it next time.

My sister did mention that she was bringing her husband, but this was well after my own BF had already ended up making other plans. BIL made it sound more like he was being dragged to the party which was why I'd also been under the impression it wasn't a 'bring the whole family' event.

I understand that by this time, your BF already had plans so it was too late. But, this interaction with your sister and BIL should have been taken as proof positive that this wasn't ladies only. Once your BIL is being "dragged" to an event, it is definitely not ladies only. I'm a bit confused about why you still thought it was ladies only once you knew your BIL was going to be there.

That all said, I'm not trying to blame you for the mix up at all. I just think that you should take it as a learning opportunity to figure out what signals were out there that you didn't know about so it doesn't happen again.

And, if it all turns out that your BF was deliberately not invited because your sister thinks he has cooties or something, well then you can move on with that understanding and decided where to go from there. But, until you know, you'll just tie yourself in knots wondering.